Herald of Steel



As Alexander sat down with his drinks, he noticed the Queen Mother perform a certain wave with her hands toward the maid, and seeing it the girl quickly excused herself to wait by the veranda door.

And this made him remember that even before, he had remarked that the communication between the two seemed almost telepathic.

In fact, Alexander could not remember a single he had heard the two speak to each other or even the maid speaking at all.

It was as if this servant existed like the wind, ever ready to serve her mistress from the shadow without causing the slightest bit of disturbance.

Perhaps that was how real royalty was served.

Anyway, once the setting was set, Alexander got down to the main talks, asking why he was called here.

And this question was met with another question, as Seelima gave a sweet smile, and asked, "Alexander, what do you think of Ptolomy? And be frank and tell me the truth."

It appeared at a glance that the Queen Mother was interrogating Alexander about his loyalty.

And this type of out-of-the-blue question made Alexander a bit surprised.

He had envisioned a lot of scenarios before coming here, but this was not one of them.

Because he could not remember a scenario that would make the redhead question his allegiance.

'And what does she mean by 'be frank? When are nobles frank with each other?' Alexander wondered what her angle was.

And for a while he ruminated on whether to reply with the same platitudes that would one give when asked such a type of question, glorifying and exalting the king, and debasing oneself.

'No, there must be more of a reason why she called me here," But ultimately decided to give the Queen Mother some large kernels of what she wanted.

Alexander wanted to see where she was going with this.

So he began with a light smile, "Many are under the impression that I have a low opinion of His Majesty."

"That I see him as weak."

"That he is someone I can disregard."

"Some even think I show myself as someone better than him."

"That I'm a god. Heh!"

Alexander targeted this smirk explicitly at Seelima, who was always suspicious of Alexander's title of 'Divine son of Gaia'.

Before slowly shaking his head, and saying,

"But that is not true at all."

"In fact, in some ways, I quite admire His Highness."

"Being able to survive the cut-throat court politics so long and then even succeed in overthrowing one's…well since I was asked to speak frankly,...undoubtedly much more capable brother, is no small task."

Though that survival had much more to do with the Queen Mother keeping him safe, than his actual abilities.

But let's not split hairs here.

Since Alexander was asked the question, he was forced to point out some good qualities of the man.

And after saying these flowery words Alexander gave the truths the Queen Mother mother had asked for, saying,

"But it is true there are certain aspects of His Majesty that I dislike and disapprove of."

"He has a weak nature that makes him malleable to his retainers' influence…. which I will admit I have also taken advantage of."

"But that is not the part I dislike of."

"No, the part that I dislike is that sometimes, when he feels like he is being manipulated by his advisors, he will randomly give out orders that go against all logic, just to oppose the advisor advising him.

"And this would be done at random, not always taking into account whether the man was trying to manipulate him or just advise him."

"So sometimes His Majesty Ptolomy is like a child, a child that has a flaming specter he can point at anyone."

"That is dangerous,…both for him and others around him."

"And thus I generally always wish to keep a safe distance from him."

Alexander had gotten to know a lot about Ptolomy's shenanigans from Pasha Farzah, and depending on those he had made the following statement.

At the end of which, he managed to portray himself as a loyal, but cautious retainer, one who kept his distance from the king because of the good of the realm.

While the Queen Mother said in a solemn voice, "But nevertheless, he is the king. Chosen by the gods."

"And one we must follow."

It appeared she was trying to wipe Alexander's doubts about Ptolomy and make him submit.

But how would Alexander so easily do that?

And so said with a little chortle and a small smirk,

"Yes, chosen by the gods. Like Alozmer was. Like Amenherft was."

And this made Seelima visibly twitch almost imperceptibly.

The message here was clear.

'If you could depose two 'so-called' gods, what's another one?'

It seemed that by killing Alozmer and outsing his son, the Queen Mother had inadvertently damaged the halo she herself was trying to project now

And she cursed Alexander for being so sharp.

But what was done, had to be done.

Seelima would never regret killing her husband or dethroning her stepson.

So instead she decided to use Ptolomy's weakness to say this,

"It is true Ptolomy has a…soft heart. Even as a child, he could never say no to anyone." The Queen Mother said this in a slow, longing, tone, as if she was recalling fond, innocent memories.

And then a moment later her normal voice returned, this time a lot firmer, as she finally got to the point she had been working towards,

"And it just as you said Alexander, he gets easily swayed by his advisors. And that's why I would like you to come to Adhan and advise him for some time!"

"I trust you far more than many of the other advisors there."

This offer came out of nowhere, and one would think Alexander would consider such a prestigious position even hypothetically.

But he did not.

He did not entertain the thought for even a second.

Because whatever Ptolomy did or no matter how things changed in Adhan, Alexander simply did not care.

And he let this be known with two simple words, "Haha, not interested."

"I appreciate the offer but I have too many tasks at Zanzan. So I'm not interested."

The reply could be considered quite crude, as normally royalties were not rejected so firmly and to their face.

But Alexander did not care.

Asking him to leave Zanzan and go work for that manchild was not something he would do even in a million years.

While the Queen Mother, facing this straightforward rejection, did not lose any composure, as she had indeed expected this, and tried to cajole Alexander another way.

She cautioned him by saying, "But Lord Alexander, are you not afraid that some scoundrel at court might plot against you?"

"Particularly given your newly acquiring wealth."

"Greedy eyes produce jealous plots you know."

"What if Ptolomy is fooled into making absurd demands and causing a lift between you two?"

She mentioned.

And this hypothesis of hers did have some weight to it.

The evil minister turning the king against his loyal subject was a classic technique that had been repeated many times over history.

But this time it was different.

And Alexander did not take this seriously, as he only let out a short, curt snort, "Hah! The two people who control the court are Lord Pasha, and you, Your Highness."

"So how is going to plot against me?"

"And even if they do, what can they do? March an army to Zanzan?"

"Good luck!"

Alexander did not buy Seelima's rhetoric, as he only saw it as her plan to divide the court and set one retainer against another, and thus keep one faction from becoming too powerful.

This was something Alexander was very well versed in doing himself with his own retainers, but he personally would never take the bait.

Instead, Alexander let it be known that he only really cared about Zanzan, saying,

"I'm not interested in court politics of Adhan."

"I was told to rule Zanzan. And I will focus on accomplishing that."

This was a problem for the Queen Mother as she wanted him to mix with the other nobles and form factions and fight.

Zanzan's potential seemed too scary to this shrewd woman for it to let it grow unchecked.

But she also did not have too many options to deal with it as Zanzan might be their trump card against Amenheraft.

So the Queen Mother tried to play the balancing game.

Hence putting in an intrigued face, she then said in a slightly dreamy tone, "Oh? Even if someone like Pasha Farzah gains control over the court? You know how powerful he is."

"And he has brought up the issue of marrying Mikaya to Ptolomy."

"Can you be okay with that?"

Now, Alexander did not know whether that part about Mikaya was true or not.

But that did not stop him from being barely able to stop himself from laughing out uncontrollably.

If Ptolomy really did marry Mikaya it would be the joke of the century.

And Alexander also highly doubted the authenticity of the news, because from what he had observed, Alexander did not believe Pasha Farzah would risk another of his daughters to get the royal crown.

The man had been burned once, and given how Ptolomy had treated Nanazin, Alexander did not think the old man would take the risk.

So Alexander only chuckled and replied, "Haha, then I will give my best wishes to Lord Farzah and the royal couple."